Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's new spy thriller Lust, Caution, will not compete for next year's best foreign movie Oscar because of technical reasons.

Ang Lee's new movie was not listed as a candidate for the best Foreign Language Film of the 80th Academy Awards, according to the official website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Taiwan has replaced Lust, Caution with lesser-known director Chen Huai-En's Island Etude, about a university student's bicycle tour of Taiwan.

Taiwan media quoted local officials as saying that Oscar organizers rejected Lust, Caution because many of the film's personnel in cinematography, music, recording and costume design were not locals.

Despite being denied of the candidacy for the best Foreign Language Film, Lee's Lust, Caution can still compete in other categories of the 80th Academy Awards.

Lee won the best director Oscar for the gay romance Brokeback Mountain last year, and his Kung Fu blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won best foreign film in 2001.

Lust, Caution has proved to be a box office success since it was screened in Taiwan since September 24. So far the movie has reaped about 200 million New Taiwan dollars (about US$6 million), according to Taiwan media.

The film is expected to be screened on the Chinese mainland in November.

Lust, Caution won a Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival this year.

Chinese director Yin Li's The Knot, a tearjerker about lovers separated by the Taiwan Strait, was on the list for the Oscar best foreign movie competition, according to the Academy's website.

Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on January 22, 2008. The Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Feb. 24, 2008 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2007)